Organizations and individuals often seek to obtain information about entities, such as businesses, government organizations, charitable organizations, and schools, for example. For instance, it may be desirable to obtain information about entities to help inform decisions about whether to approach such entities as potential suppliers from which to obtain goods and/or services, or as potential consumers to which to market goods and/or services. Sometimes, people wish to find out about entities because they are searching for employment or because they are looking to hire employees for their own organizations. Other times, people wish to find out about entities to perform investigative work.
Conventional approaches to obtaining information about entities include compiling articles, advertisements, and postings from newspapers, magazines, and websites. A common medium for acquiring information about entities is the Internet, and common tools used for obtaining such information are search engines.